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Physician Spotlight: Dr. Kevin Churchwell
As a child growing up in Nashville attending McGavock High School, Kevin Churchwell had every intention of going to college and becoming an engineer, a biomedical engineer at that. "I attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but when I found out exactly what engineers did, I realized I wasn't suited for that."
After making the switch to medicine, Churchwell never looked back.
BY HOLLY CONNER SHARP |
BlueCross Tackles Childhood Obesity With Two Initiatives
Pulling in the reins on Tennessee's unrestrained childhood obesity rate is the purpose behind a grant awarded this summer by the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Health Foundation.
"The problem with obesity is that it is such a statewide — in fact, such a nationwide — epidemic. Of course, Tennessee is known for its obesity rate, which is just humongous," says Beverly Cosley, manager of the BCBST Foundation.
BY SHARON H. FITZGERALD |
Murfreesboro's Stinger Medical Offers Hospitals Mobile Technology
What began as a metal-working operation in a Murfreesboro garage is today Stinger Medical, which provides hospitals with work stations and technologies that roll to the patient bedside.
"Our first product in 1994 was a trailer," recalls the founder and CEO, Gary Coonan, who adds, "Opportunities come along all the time. The difference is you need to be prepared to take advantage of those opportunities."
BY SHARON H. FITZGERALD |
Nashville Pediatricians Hail New HPV Vaccine
Not only are Nashville-area pediatricians already recommending the new vaccine effective against several types of human papillomavirus (HPV), some interviewed by Nashville Medical News have already given the first of three doses to their daughters. That's because HPV is known to cause most cervical cancers.
by Sharon H. Fitzgerald |
Vanderbilt Study Seeks to Help Children of Depressed Parents
Helping family members cope when a parent suffers from depression is the goal of a study being conducted collaboratively by Vanderbilt University and the University of Vermont in Burlington. Both sites are actively recruiting families to participate.
"Children whose parents are depressed are at extraordinary risk for depression, but also anxiety and other kinds of behavior problems," says Vanderbilt's Bruce E. Compas, PhD, who is the study's principal investigator and the Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Psychology and Human Development.
BY SHARON H. FITZGERALD |
Nation Needs Uniform Newborn Screening, Improved Information for Worried Parents
It's high time the United States established a broad, uniform panel of newborn screening tests, say pediatric experts, and the results of a study released in May by the Indiana University School of Medicine suggest such a program would save healthcare dollars as well as lives.
"It was surprising, certainly to me, anyway," says Dr. Stephen M. Downs, who conducted the research along with colleague Dr. Aaron E. Carroll.
BY SHARON H. FITZGERALD |
One Man's Poison
In early July, ziconotide, marketed as Prialt®, became available in Great Britain. Here at home, the drug has been used in the most severe chronic pain cases since early 2005 and is approved for use as a defense against chronic pain associated with cancer, AIDS and neuropathies when other options have failed or are not well tolerated.
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Palliative Care: Treating Mind, Body and Spirit
When healthcare professionals and consumers alike think of end-of-life care in Middle Tennessee, Alive Hospice is certainly one of the first providers that comes to mind.
The program was founded 30 years ago by two Vanderbilt professors and practitioners … Dr. John Flexner, a hematological oncologist, and Dr. David Barton, a psychologist, who taught a course on death and dying and who both worked with patients that had life-limiting illnesses
BY CINDY SANDERS |
AMA Focuses on End-of-Life Planning
Not long past the one-year mark of Terri Schiavo's death, American Medical Association (AMA) members voted to increase efforts to educate patients about the importance of end-of-life planning.
"The tragic case of Terri Schiavo made many Americans acutely aware of the risks associated with not clearly communicating end-of-life decisions, but many are unsure about how to locate information or even begin the process of obtaining an advance directive," said Dr. Robert M. Wah, AMA board member.
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Jan Jones
Jan Jones, RN, BSN, FAAMA is president and CEO of Alive Hospice. In addition, she is board chair for the American Academy of Medical Administrators, an association of multidisciplinary healthcare management. "It's an organization that values learning and advancement," she says, adding that the AAMA works with managers at all levels.
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Working Through the Pain
No matter how unpleasant, pain serves a purpose. Actually, it's a vital part of human survival. Pain can act as a warning to stop humans from pursuing a dangerous behavior. If hurt, pain can actually promote healing as humans tend to favor the injured area in an effort to avoid additional pain, thus giving themselves the time and space to heal.
However, sometimes pain outlives its usefulness. Once pain extends past the norm for a particular injury or insult, then it becomes chronic pain and brings with it a whole host of other medical issues.
BY CINDY SANDERS |
Debbie Fultz, RN (left) with patient Cindy WIlliams. |
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Alive Hospice Opens Saint Thomas Unit
For the first time, Alive Hospice is partnering with a hospital facility to create an onsite care unit.
The hospice provider recently opened a 16-bed unit at Saint Thomas Hospital that Jan Jones, president and CEO of Alive Hospice, describes as "acute palliative care."
Jones says services include intense symptom management, additional support for patients near the end of their lives and for their families, as well as more in-depth training for patients and families that will be returning to a home setting.
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AMA Meeting Produces New Policy Shifts
In a break from its traditional forbearance on government insurance mandates, the AMA's House of Delegates has decided to swing the powerful physician group's lobbying efforts in back of federal and state provisions that would slap a tax penalty on anyone who can afford health insurance but doesn't buy it.
For individuals, the penalty would fall on anyone who makes more than $49,000 a year who fails to buy a catastrophic care policy.
BY TRACY STATON |
Healthcare Management Systems Sees Growth and Satisfied Customers
It really isn't what you know. It is what you do with what you know.
Managing information is one of the most challenging tests facing healthcare today.
Hardin Medical Center in Savannah, Tenn. is a rural hospital that provides a wide array of healthcare services to its neighbors in Hardin County. Recently the hospital needed to change over its entire information system within a relatively short period of time at an affordable cost.
BY KELLY PRICE |
Top Hospitals Fine-Tune Their Approach to IT
Seven years ago, when Hospitals and Health Networks magazine first went looking for the 100 "most wired" hospitals and health systems in the country, the healthcare industry was focused on finding the hard dollars and cents that could be saved with cutting edge information technology. But these days, the emphasis has shifted to a scorecard approach that tries to balance an accountant's calculus on ROI (return on investment) with the improvements in quality and streamlined workflows that deliver important, if harder to measure, returns.
BY JOHN CARROLL |
Wired
For the eighth year, Hospitals & Health Networks has named the 100 Most Wired Hospitals and Health Systems. The list, which appeared in the magazine's July issue, was based on the Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study, which asked hospitals to report on how they use information technology to address five key areas: safety and quality, customer service, business processes, workforce, and public health and safety.
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New Program Promises to Close a Wide Gap in Quality
For some doctors, the professional demands of keeping up with the best practices in the field of medicine may soon steer them in the direction of a personal tutor.
Using grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a group of specialist societies operating under the umbrella of the American Board of Medical Specialties Research and Education Foundation will concentrate on giving doctors the tools, systems and support they need to give their patients the kind of recommended therapy that has delivered the best outcomes for patients with diabetes and asthma.
BY JOHN CARROLL |
Emergency Care Specialists Raise Alarm
In a series of new reports, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) reports that the nation's emergency care safety net is stretched to the limit and is unable to cope with any major man-made or natural disaster that may loom. Emergency care specialists have responded by using the reports as a call to arms, harshly criticizing the shortage of post 9/11 emergency funds for EDs and warning of a breakdown of the nation's emergency care system.
BY TRACY STATON |
Biotech Drug Spending Soars as Patients Seek Better Care
For many patients with rheumatoid arthritis, few therapies can really compare with Enbrel's® effectiveness.
A comparison in cost, however, can be even bigger. The average prescription price for Enbrel is $1,417, which helps give new meaning to the phrase "gold standard" when applied to the RA therapy.
The overwhelming popularity of this injectable biologic is given the lion's share of the credit for driving up the collective price paid for biotech drugs for inflammatory diseases by a whopping 33.9 percent last year, according to a new report from the pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts®.
BY TRACY STATON |
Adjusting to the Reality of Immigration
Immigration. It's a hot potato. Don't touch!
Ouch! Oh!
There is probably no more sensitive and contentious political issue today than this.
Usually, issues have two sides to them. Immigration, according to recent polls has at least four strongly held positions by the majority of Americans. This makes it hard to discuss … and probably not too smart … but I am going to try.
BY RICK OLIVER |
Practice Breakup: It's Hard to Do
Breaking up is hard to do. This is especially true in a medical practice unless a well thought out buy-sell agreement is in place. The agreement benefits and protects both the existing practice and the future of the departing physician(s).
By Lucy R. Carter and Sara S. Lankford |
How Do Jurors Really Decide?
Attorneys are targeting nursing homes across the country and throwing the dice for big verdicts. Some of them are hitting the jackpot. With many residents having stays of more than five years and plaintiffs making claims of long term neglect, these cases can be difficult to defend. It's no wonder that so many nursing homes settle, even when the case is defensible.
By Richard G. Cowart |
STHS, Williamson Medical Form Cardiac Affiliation
Last month Saint Thomas Health Services announced a cardiac affiliation with Williamson County Medical Center. The agreement provides for STHS to work cooperatively with Williamson Medical Center (WMC) to develop and expand their cardiac services.
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Summit Medical Center Welcomes New Physician
Summit Medical Center is proud to announce the addition of pediatrician Katherine Hoeft, MD. Dr. Hoeft will be joining the practice of Children's Clinic East in Hermitage/Mt. Juliet.
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UnitedHealthcare Names New Medical Director
UnitedHealthcare of the Mid-South has named Dr. Richard M. Lachiver as the new medical director for Tennessee and Arkansas. In his new role, Lachiver will be responsible for overseeing clinical advancement efforts in both states, focused on driving measurable and meaningful improvement in the use of evidence-based medicine, patient safety, practice variation and affordability.
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Dr. Karen L. Ayres and Dr. Mark D. Hughes Join Pediatric Hospitalists of Nashville
Centennial Pediatrics recently announced its new division, Pediatric Hospitalists of Nashville, that will extend the group's current pediatric healthcare into the hospital setting. Dr. Karen L. Ayres and Dr. Mark D. Hughes will be heading up Pediatric Hospitalists of Nashville. The program will offer qualified pediatric hospitalists to provide continued care to children requiring hospitalization for their illness or injury.
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